Assam shows spine at Golaghat border

Despite ga resistance, rehabilitation of displaced border residents begins

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 18: A simmering tension brewed along the galand border in Golaghat as Assam government today braved resistance by ga miscreants, launching the process of rehabilitation of the people displaced in the violence in August last year.

A group of 20/25 ga miscreants confronted a team of Golaghat administration which had gone to Roman Basti to start the rehabilitation process.

"After an argument, the miscreants moved away," an official source said. Golaghat superintendent of police PP Singh said four houses were completed today, rehabilitating as many families.

"The rehabilitation process will continue in the coming days," he added. There are 1,055 displaced people still sheltered in the relief camps at Uriamghat.

They were displaced in the attacks by armed ga miscreants who had torched 16 villages, killing eleven villagers in August last. Over 10,000 people were rendered homeless in the attacks.

Meanwhile, perturbed at the repeated violence along the inter-state border in the four sectors in the district, Golaghat Press Club has convened a meeting of intellectuals and editors on July 5 to discuss the issue and come up with long-term solutions that will secure the border populace and the State's territorial integrity. Golaghat Press Club president Apurba Ballav Goswami said the people residing in the four sectors of the inter-state border – which has been dubbed as 'disputed' - have been treated as second class citizens.

"Interim agreements have been signed between both sides about which the people know very little. After the galand government iugurated a sub division – christened as Newland - in the disputed area, the then AGP government had moved the Supreme Court in 1988. While the case continues to hang, atrocities by ga miscreants continue to haunt the border residents," Goswami said. He stated that not a single miscreant involved in the August violence has been apprehended. "To arrest a person in the so-called disputed area, you need magistrates from both sides besides the neutral force. It is not easy to catch miscreants following this norm as magistrates are not always available," he said.

He also rued that though the Assam government had announced a CBI probe into the August violence, no forward movement has been made so far.

"The July 5 meet will press the State government to come up with a white paper on the inter-state border issue and dwell upon a way forward for permanent solution to the problem," he added.

Senior jourlist Dipen Dutta is the chief advisor of the organizing committee of the convention while Diganta Bhuyan is the general secretary.